North America

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The White House is seeking to evaluate what programs would be highly impacted if the already month-long partial government shutdown continues for weeks longer, U.S. media reported Wednesday.

White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney has asked agency leaders to provide him with a list of the programs that will be severely undermined if the shutdown extends into March and April, The Washington Post first reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that she would not host U.S. President Donald Trump to deliver a state of union speech before government reopens, all but rejecting Trump's intent to deliver the speech on Jan. 29.

"I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the president's state of the union address in the House chamber until the government has opened," Pelosi said.

22 Jan 2019; AA: A Syrian refugee living in the U.S. provides federal government employees with free meal everyday at his restaurant, as Washington is going through a partial government shutdown.

Yassin Terou, the owner of the Yassin’s Falafel House in Tennessee, launched the campaign on Jan. 14, which offers free meals to federal workers when they show their employee ID cards.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. federal courts are expected to run out of money on Feb. 1 after deferring non-critical operating costs and utilizing court filing fees and other available balances, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said Tuesday.

"No further extensions beyond Feb. 1 will be possible," the administrative agency said in a statement. "Most of the measures are temporary stopgaps, and the Judiciary will face many deferred payment obligations after the partial government shutdown ends."

President Donald Trump had a message Tuesday for Democrats hoping he'll relent in the political arm wrestling that has seen funds blocked to parts of the government for a record 32 days: "No Cave!"

Trump's defiant tweet again blamed congressional Democrats for the chaos, insisting he will not lift his shutdown on federal government funding unless they approve his $5.7 billion plan for more walls along the US-Mexican border.

23 2019; AFP: The White House on Tuesday said high-level trade talks with Beijing were proceeding uninterrupted, quickly rebutting media reports that progress toward resolving their trade war had faltered.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is to meet his US counterparts in Washington next week as the two sides work to resolve their trade disagreements by March 1, when a 90-day truce is due to expire, allowing US import duties on Chinese goods to increase sharply.

NEW YORK, January 21. /TASS/. Family members of Paul Whelan who was detained in Russia on espionage charges have launched a crowdfunding campaign to help him pay for his legal defense, his brother David Whelan told TASS in an e-mail.

"Now that Paul has started to receive consular support, and we know his health is being watched and that his rights are being looked after, our family has started crowdfunding to help Paul pay for his legal defense," David Whelan said.

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a recent pipeline explosion in Mexico's central state of Hidalgo has risen to 91, said state governor Omar Fayad on Monday.

In an interview with local media, Fayad also said that the 52 wounded people had been treated in a dozen hospitals in Hidalgo, the State of Mexico, and Mexico City.

In the wake of the disaster, the governor said he would dedicate himself to saving lives, locating remains, and supporting the federal government's crackdown on fuel theft.

22 Jan 2019; DW: Mexico saw more murders in 2018 than any other year since nationwide records began some two decades ago, according to the country's Interior Ministry. Mexico might soon get a national guard tasked with combating crime.

With drug-related crimes and gang violence rife across Mexico, investigators opened 33,341 murder probes in 2018, setting a new record, according to the latest data published by the nation's authorities. Men make up the overwhelming majority of the victims, with 861 women losing their lives last year.

22 Jan 2019; AFP: Facebook-owned mobile messaging platform WhatsApp announced Monday it was restricting how many times any given message can be forwarded in an effort to boost privacy and security.

In July, WhatsApp rolled out safeguards in India that included limiting the number of users to whom a message can be forwarded. It also ran newspaper ads to raise awareness about fake news.